Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 8,613,717, I need to access the patent's full citation list from the USPTO database. Since I cannot directly perform a live search on the USPTO database for citations, I will rely on information typically found on publicly available patent databases that mirror USPTO data.

Given the current limitations, I'll describe how a patent analyst would typically identify relevant prior art and then use the publicly available information from the provided patent text to identify directly cited prior art within the patent document itself.

Methodology for Identifying Most Relevant Prior Art:

A technical patent analyst would typically follow these steps:

1. Access USPTO Patent Public Search: Use the USPTO's Patent Public Search tool (or similar databases like Google Patents) to retrieve the full patent document for US8613717.
2. Review "References Cited" Section: The patent document itself contains a "References Cited" section, which lists all prior art patents and non-patent literature considered by the patent examiner during prosecution. This is an initial, highly relevant set of prior art.
3. Analyze Examiner's Citations: Pay close attention to the citations made by the patent examiner, as these were deemed significant enough to warrant discussion during the examination process.
4. Analyze Applicant's Citations: The applicant also provides prior art during prosecution (e.g., in Information Disclosure Statements). These are important as they often represent what the applicant believed was the closest prior art.
5. Read and Understand the Prior Art: For each cited reference, read its abstract, claims, and relevant drawings and descriptions to understand its scope and technical details.
6. Map to Claims of US8613717: Compare the features of each prior art reference to the claims of US8613717, especially the independent claims (Claims 1, 10, and 18).
7. Assess Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Determine if any single prior art reference discloses every element of a claim in US8613717. If so, that prior art "anticipates" the claim, potentially rendering it invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 102.
8. Assess Obviousness (35 U.S.C. § 103): If no single reference anticipates a claim, consider if a combination of prior art references, or a reference combined with common general knowledge, would have made the invention obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.

Prior Art Identified from US8613717 (Based on provided patent text):

The provided patent text for US8613717 includes a "RELATED U.S. APPLICATION(S)" section, which lists related patent applications. These are important for understanding the prosecution history and potential overlap in inventorship or subject matter, and can often be considered prior art depending on their publication dates relative to the priority date of US8613717.

• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/187,121

  • Full Citation: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/187,121 (filed Aug. 6, 2008)
  • Publication/Filing Date: August 6, 2008
  • Brief Description: This is a parent application, meaning it likely discloses similar or foundational aspects of the invention described in US8613717. The abstract of US8613717 states it is a continuation-in-part of this application, suggesting significant overlap in subject matter, particularly regarding systems and methods for removing undesirable material from the circulatory system.
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Given that US8613717 is a continuation-in-part of this application, many aspects of Claims 1, 10, and 18 might be directly disclosed in US 12/187,121, particularly the core concepts of a first and second cannula, a pump, and the method of removal and reinfusion. Without the full text of US 12/187,121, a definitive statement is not possible, but it is highly likely to anticipate at least some elements of the independent claims, and potentially the entire claims depending on the scope of the parent application.

• U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/015,301

  • Full Citation: U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/015,301 (filed Dec. 20, 2007)
  • Publication/Filing Date: December 20, 2007
  • Brief Description: This is the earliest priority document for US8613717. Provisional applications allow an inventor to establish an early effective filing date without all the formalities of a non-provisional application. It would likely contain disclosures related to the initial ideas for the system and methods.
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): As the priority document, this provisional application is likely to disclose the foundational aspects of the invention. If the provisional application adequately describes the subject matter of Claims 1, 10, and 18, it could serve as prior art against any claims in US8613717 that are not sufficiently supported by the provisional filing date or that claim new matter. It is primarily used to establish the priority date for the claims of US8613717 rather than acting as prior art in the traditional sense against its own claims, but its content is crucial for assessing the validity of the claims based on the earliest filing date.

To provide a complete prior art analysis as requested, a full review of the "References Cited" section of the issued patent 8,613,717, as found on the USPTO website, would be necessary. This section typically lists all patents and non-patent literature that the examiner and applicant considered relevant during the prosecution of the patent application.